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Episode Fact File: Treehouse of Horror XXVII (600th Episode!)

It’s the 600th spooktacular episode of The Simpsons! This Sunday, October 15th, 2016, Fox aired the 27th annual “Treehouse of Horror XXVII“, the 4th episode of Season 28. This Episode Fact File will recap the episode with pictures, video clips and more. Get the scoop right after the jump!

3. Moefinger: Moe tells Bart that the barflies are actually covert agents and that he wants Bart to join their team in Homer‘s place.

Episode Details: ‘Treehouse of Horror XXVII’ is the 27th installment of the Treehouse of Horror series, the 4th episode of Season 28 as well as the 600th episode of The Simpsons. The episode aired on FOX on October 15th, 2016 and was written by Joel H. Cohen and directed by Steven Dean Moore and Al Jean as show runner. This episode is considered non-canon and the events featured do not relate to the series and therefore may not have actually happened/existed.

COUCH GAG

The couch gag for the episode is Planet of the Couches, an unused couch gag that was planned to be used if an episode came up too short. Google approached the producers about creating a virtual reality couch gag. The producers then decided to use the Planet of the Couches gag. The couch gag can be viewed with Google Cardboard.

In the 45 second couch gag in the actual episode, there will be a URL that can be accessed on your device to view the 3 minute VR couch gag. The full version will be viewed with Google Cardboard whilst a limited version can be seen without it, by moving your device around. It was available world wide.

The Simpsons are running away from the couches, but they get captured, with Bart and Lisa asking if it’s VR yet three times, and after the third time, Homer says yes.

The title of the couch gag appears with “If you don’t have VR glasses you miss everything” superimposed. If moved around, only “of the couches” appears, with different colors.

When the dust clears, a rural town is seen, with couches populating it. The scene moves to the Simpsons holding cell. If looked around, Hedonismbot appears on the walls, The Creation of Adam is depicted with God near-touching hands with a couch, and two couches can be seen at Moe‘s Cavern with one vomiting stuff, including Snowball from being too drunk.

Homer calls out for help and food, and the couch saves them, opening the cell and taking them to a beach, under a Lard Lad statue, where Ralph is seen on a rock with El barto written on it, saying he’s lost, while a boat spoilering Planet of the Apes is sunk sunk by a couch-Mocha Dick. Kang and Kodos are hovering on hot air baloons while a Stop the Planet of the Apes I Want to Get Off is seen on the beach, broken. Meanwhile Homer is on the beach sand saying “damn me”, and the Lard Lad statue fells on top of him and he d’ohes.

Promotional Images

Production

Planet of the Couches is an unused couch gag that was planned to be used if an episode came up too short. Google approached the producers about creating a virtual reality couch gag. The producers then decided to use the Planet of the Couches gag.

The family is going to buy a christmas tree on Halloween, but at the christmas tree lot, they are ambushed by Sideshow Bob, Kang or Kodos, and the ghost of Frank Grimes seeking revenge. One of the four of the team is missing however, the Leprechaun, but Bob pulls on a tree branch to show him, and he convinces the bad guys to dance. Maggie grabs a knife and cuts the four baddies heads off. Grimes, being a ghost, places his head back and asks the viewer “will nobody stop these people?”, and after all 600 episodes are shown in a mosaic he says that “In hell, they make you watch them all in a row”. The Planet of the Couches couch gag is then shown.

Dry Hard

Springfield is in a post-apocalyptic state. The city is completely dry, and the water is scarce and expensive. Mr. Burns is controlling the water’s reservoir. Burns decides to make the kids of Springfield battle to the death, and the winner will win a day at the reservoir. Lisa is the child for Nevergreen Terrace and meets her coach, Homish. Ralph dies first, stepping on a mine before the event even started.

The battle begins, and two boys seduce Lisa but are killed by Homish, who falls in a trap and the other contestants still alive circle him, but Lisa convinces the people there’s no need to kill each other and they’ve got to turn against Burns. The kids are freed from the Battle Dome and the people destroy the reservoir, but the water is wasted and it causes a rain, which turned into a flood, then created an ice age.

BFF R.I.P.

Lisa is playing outside with Janey when the lawnmower is activated and kills her. At the funeral, Sherri and Terri become her new best friends, only to get immediately killed by a falling tombstone. To help with her mourn, she goes to a psychiatrist, and she says she can be her best friend, after which she’s killed by a falling painting.

The police start investigating her room and find nail polish. The police said the nail polish was found at all of the crime scenes, and Lisa reveals she wore that when her imaginary friend, Rachel, was around, before she outgrew her.

The murders continue when Milhouse is suffocated by Rachel on the bus, and Chief Wiggum arrests Lisa. In jail, Lisa mentions Marge being right about her, and when Rachel disappears, Lisa realizes she’s going to kill Marge next. To stop her, she’s helped by Bart to escape.

At home, Lisa manages to save Marge from death (the cat is sleeping and when Rachel throws a knife at Marge, she wakes up, jumps in front of it, the knife hits her, she lands in the trash can, and dies.), and Rachel reveals her plan to kill everyone she loves, and she’ll be blamed because nobody else can see her except Lisa. Homer distracts Lisa with his imaginary friend, Sergeant Sausage, to save himself and Lisa realizes she only exists in her imagination. She then makes Rachel miserable and disappear. Homer proceeds to eat Sergeant Sausage in the microwave where he was placed by Rachel.

Moefinger

Bart is chased by Dolph, Jimbo and Kearney, and ends up in Moe’s Tavern through a backdoor. Moe appears, injuring the bullies and showing a secret area underneath the tavern, where all of the barflies are secret agents. He reveals wanting to hire Bart in place of Homer, who died on a mission.

They receive a target next by High Ball, their leader. He tells them to go to Remoh Industries, the new owner of Duff Stadium. They break into the chief office and find out it’s none other than Homer (coincidentally, Remoh written backwards is Homer). The traitor has created a lava machine to make the whole world surrender to him and he wanted to steal all of the Duff Beer to celebrate. A hord of people was sent by Homer to try to stop them, but Bart manages to kill them all, including Homer. In the aftermath, Bart enjoys some time with Sherri. The episode concludes with a song to celebrate the 600th episode.

PRODUCTION

Scenes including Russ Cargill and Frank Grimes becoming a large ghost were cut due to the time of the episode being 45 seconds too long.

The title of the second episode, BFF R.I.P. was originally just BFF.

JIMMY KIMMEL LIVE

Jimmy Kimmel Live! is an American late night talk show, hosted by Jimmy Kimmel. There was a special The Simpsons segment on the episode that aired on October 13, 2016 to celebrate the show’s 600th episode.

Frank Grimes makes reference to the fact that this is the 600th episode saying “In hell they make you watch them all in a row”. This is a reference to the FXX 13 days marathon, showing all the episodes of the show in a row.

The lion on the left has a Guy Fawkes mask, and the store is named “V. Appliances and Repairs”, referencing V for Vendetta.

The scene with the cars heading toward the reservior is a reference to Mad Max: Fury Road, with Otto being Immortan Joe, Willie being Doof Warrior, and the heads on pole a reference to the people on the poles in the movie.

Six hundred.
Yes, that’s right!
We’ve churned out six hundred shows!
It goes and goes!
Two times three hundred
And thousands of promos for
shows that were bad!
Yes, they were bad!
So very bad!
We love gold!
Gold!